Man shot dead by forest hunters, mistaken for animal

Man shot dead by forest hunters, mistaken for animal

Udupi, June 16,2017 : Reports say a man, mistaken to be a wild boar, was shot dead by poachers in the reserve forest area in Kadthala in Kaljeddu village late on June 14, Wednesday night.

The police said Ravindra Naika, aged 28 years, had gone to the reserve forest to cut trees illegally at around 8.30 pm with four others.

They were chatting in the forest at 10.30 pm. Then, two hunters (later identified as accused Sunder Naik and Jeethu) entered the forest. Ravindra and his companions saw them and tried to flee from the spot thinking that they are forest guards as they had torches.

Ravindra hid in a bush under a tree. Ravindra had a mobile phone and it started blinking.

The hunters saw the mobile phone light and started firing at him with a single barrel muzzle loaded rifle presuming that it might be the eyes of a wild boar. Ravindra started screaming and the hunters fled from the spot.

Later, Ravindra’s companions rushed him to KMC, Manipal, but he was declared brought dead. The Karkala police have arrested the accused on Thursday and seized the rifle from them.